Tobacco In History

Tobacco is a plant that can be used once it is dried or fermented. Its uses are mainly for smoking or for chewing. It contains nicotine, which makes it very addictive. Tobacco is also a nervous system stimulant and affects numerous things in the human body such as the heart rate or blood pressure. Tobacco in history was known to have aided people’s medical problems and was also a release for many people. That is also something that people believe it is used for today; as a release for its users. Tobacco was known to have been a plant that was used in the Mayan era, in 6000 BCE, for recreational purposes and for religious purposes. It wasn’t seen anywhere else, or has not been documented if it was, however historians have found artworks with
Mayan civilians smoking the plant. It was a common commodity in that era as it was normally practiced. Historians then track tobacco to 1492, during Christopher Columbus’s first trip to the “New World”. He was offered tobacco from natives as a gift since they believed that the explorers were divine. Along with tobacco, the natives of the ‘America’s’ gave Christopher Columbus, spears, wood, fruit and more. Even though Columbus did not use tobacco because of the scent it emitted and did throw it overboard, it did show up once again on European soil because of other travellers. This was the first known encounter with tobacco on a global level as this was the first time a traveller from some other part of the world came into contact with tobacco for the first time. Travellers from Europe were introduced to tobacco through natives from the America’s. This was the start of tobacco’s journey. From this point on, tobacco can be traced to many different colonies mainly England and France. Tobacco was not at a great craze when it was first introduced but over time grew to be well liked by many from doctors, to politicians to common men.